Customer Reviews

Mirror of Destiny (Five Senses, Bk. 2)

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

A healer girl who possesses the eponymous talisman, determined to aid a young lord blinded by a mysterious woodland people. Women rounded up into a marriage lottery at a military outpost. A fleshed-out society of arrogant woodland beings, elf-like yet domineering enough to be interesting. A cruel and beautiful elf woman challenging the rule of the forest lord. Elves treating their human captives like slaves and the half-decent bunch turning a blind eye so as not to antagonize their peers.

This book certainly had promise. I enjoyed the heck out of the first half. We are introduced to the forest people, their scorn of humans, their complex society hemmed in by rules that prevent them from punishing injustice in their own ranks. I loved the characters at this point. Lotis was a worthy villainess, sadistic in her bewitchment and torment of Ylon but hardly the perpetrator of "ultimate evil" she later becomes. Elf King Oxyle was a half-decent fellow with just enough careless edge to him that we question what his motives are concerning heroine Twilla, in whom he takes a marked interest and incurs the wrath of Lotis. What were Oxyle and Lotis to each other? How would Twilla's friendship with the Lord of the Wood progress if they were allowed to talk of anything other than battle strategies? Could Oxyle indeed have a romantic interest in her? How would Twilla balance this against her loyalty to the blind and captive Ylon?

We will never know, my friends. The second half of the book (about the time Twilla and co. meet the obligatory dwarves) was where the "action" really took off and the book devolved into conventional sword and sorcery. All of a sudden the forest people are divided in ranks: the followers of Lotis and the followers of Oxyle, who suddenly want to discuss peace treaties with the humans. Lotis turns from catty woman to outright Evil Sorceress, seeking to break the bonds of the obligatory "Ancient Evil" to take over rule of the forest people and obliterate the humans. Oxyle becomes everyone's ally and a Noble Elf Lord to make Tolkien proud. Numerous fights with evil inevitably follow before the humans, elves, and dwarves can make peace.

It's a shame Norton felt the need to repeat an old formula, because I really think she had something going. Her beginning chapters were slow-paced but character-focused, examining important issues such as industrialization, mistreatment of women, marriage as commodity, the superiority of one race over another and why that's a dangerous position to assume even if your people are in the right. I was led to believe that the book would be about the characters and their relationships with each other, not on their concentrated Fight Against Evil.

To be fair to Norton, the traditional storyline is extremely well told and those who love conventional fantasy should be very pleased. To me at least the traditional plot took the focus away from the characters, the people who kept me turning the pages in the first place. The same weighty themes mentioned above could have been addressed just as well in a character-based book.

Three stars because for what it is, it's very good. Minus two stars because the tone is uneven. Halfway through you think you're in for a romantic fantasy, then the plot becomes standard fare. At least it's not as predictable as some.

I think that anyone who says that this book isn't good is a true lover of fantasy. The plot was great and well-developed, the characters strong and the scenery fantastic. It was the first book I've read by Norton and I am now a great fan of hers! I know a good book when I read it and this was definitely one of them!

Most reviews of this book were to say the least bad. I however enjoyed it. it was what I like to call brain candy. YOu don't have to think hard to read it. You just enjoy it. If you like Andre Norton's works, this is not her best effort, but it is a fun and quick read to pique further interest into scifi/fantasy reading for someone just starting to develop a taste for it. BTW, I wouldn't reccommend this for a guy. This was definitely a chick book.

I barely made it through this book. In anticipation of eventual improvement, I finally finished it -- and I was wrong in such hopes. The writing is poor, and the characters are simply not strong enough to make up for this lack. As this was my first Andre Norton book, I must say I am sorely disappointed.

This was a really good book, Twilla and Ylon are both strong characters. I enjoyed the way she (Norton) described the castles of forest and underworld. It was good enough for 5 stars by almost any other author's standards. I think the Witch World series topped this, but just barely.

I picked this book up the other day from the library and was a full quarter of the way through it before I realised I'd read it before. There's a reason for that. It's not a bad story overall, but it suffers from a lack of anything unique or innovative enough to make it memorable. The plot and characters are all passable, but I guarantee almost any reader will have come across many like them before.

I'd recommend Mirror of Destiny to fantasy fans after a decent read to pass the time, but don't expect to be impressed.

I loved this book so much that I have read it something like eight times. The storyline is well wrought and the characters are rich and lively. The book should especially appeal to female readers as the heroine is a strong character and there is just a touch of a love story in the plot. It was great! Furthermore, those people who disliked this book are welcome to their opinion, but I think that the "overembelishment" is part of what added to the charm. I like books that describe things with enough detail that I can picture the scene. And as to the silly rhymes, even the main character, Twilla, states that they are "weak" and "limping". Twilla is only human. It is part of the story. I just love this book. I highly recommend it.

It was only through a great act of will that I was able to make it through this book. The characters are flat, the story is predictable, and the rhymes scattered throughout are the worst in recent memory. I would not recommend this book to anyone, except possibly to convince them that if this book can get published then so can theirs!

Although, the underlying story was interesting and creative, I found the writing of the story wanting. The diaglogue seemed forced and inconsistent. In addition, there were many redundancies and just plain poorly written segments. I am an avid fantasy fiction reader and have read many different books by many different authors. I truly enjoyed the basic premise of the book and its main character and that is why I finished it. But I found it an unenjoyable experience and am disappointed that it was such.

Twilla is a strong character and the story is engrossing. Norton once again takes us into a realm where she weaves her talent and leaves all her fans wanting more!